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Research project

IMBIE

The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE) was established in 2011 as a community effort to reconcile satellite measurements of ice sheet mass balance. Jointly led by Andrew Shepherd and involving several members of the Polar Observation Group at Leeds, IMBIE is a collaboration between scientists supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and contributes to assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

IMBIE has led to improved confidence in the measurement of ice sheet mass balance and the associated global sea-level contribution. The improvements were achieved through combination of ice sheet imbalance estimates developed from the independent satellite techniques of altimetry, gravimetry and the input-output method. The ongoing aim of IMBIE is to provide a framework for assessing ice sheet mass balance, and widen participation to enable the entire scientific community to become involved.